14 DAY TRIAL // Steve Ballmer has recently announced that he would leave Microsoft within the next 12 months when a successor is found, and his decision shocked everyone in the industry.
Even though many asked him to go, everybody was surprised to see Ballmer actually doing it, especially because he always stated that the wanted to remain at the helm of the company until at least 2017.
Michael Cusumano, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of a book on Microsoft published in 1995, said one of Ballmer's biggest challenges was to push the company beyond the PC.
He took over from Bill Gates in 2000 when the smartphone market was already showing the first signs of a terrific growth, so Ballmer had no other choice than to head in this direction.
“In many ways he had a very hard job. When Bill Gates stepped down in 2000, he left at a critical juncture. All of these changes, and Ballmer, who is much more of a sales guy than a technical leader or market visionary, was left holding the bag,” Cusumano was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Ballmer wasn't quite the visionary leader you would expect the Microsoft CEO to be, he continued, even though he always showed a great love for the company.
“Microsoft had a great run for 30 years, but it’s too much to expect somebody like Steve, who is more of a caretaker CEO than a visionary leader, to just bring Microsoft to the next level,” Cusumano added.
“I’ve met Steve a number of times. He’s a great motivator, he has terrific energy, tremendous enthusiasm, and he loves the company deeply. That energy is contagious. But Microsoft competes in a market where the competition and the pace of change is really quite fast, and if you’re not ahead of the game, then you’re likely underneath it.”
With Ballmer leaving, the question on who's next still remains. Microsoft claims that it's considering both external and internal candidates, so former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky and Nokia head Stephen Elop could also have a chance to take over the CEO seat.